5. When is prototypal inheritance an appropriate choice? Ther | Coding interview preparation
5. When is prototypal inheritance an appropriate choice?
There is more than one type of prototypal inheritance:
- Delegation (i.e., the prototype chain). - Concatenative (i.e. mixins, Object.assign()). - Functional (Not to be confused with functional programming. A function used to create a closure for private state/encapsulation).
Each type of prototypal inheritance has its own set of use-cases, but all of them are equally useful in their ability to enable composition, which creates has-a or uses-a or can-do relationships as opposed to the is-a relationship created with class inheritance.
Good to hear:
In situations where modules or functional programming don’t provide an obvious solution. When you need to compose objects from multiple sources. Any time you need inheritance.
Red flags:
No knowledge of when to use prototypes. No awareness of mixins or Object.assign().
